Wednesday, July 20, 2011

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

So it's the third week of training for the Kits Challenge and I am pretty impressed with both of us! We have stuck to our three days a week in the pool and managed to get into the water at Whytecliff Park on Sunday. Let me tell you, it wasn't inviting. It was overcast and cold all day and the water was a chilly 14 degrees. Walking into the ocean we both hesitated mid-thigh knowing that when the water level reached the bottom of our zippers the insides of our suits would be flooded. I wore two swim caps, but in spite of that had the kind of ice cream headache I usually only experience in October or November.

Have I mentioned that it was cold?

But, we did it. And I'm glad we did. As soon as we turned the corner out of the bay the swells were large and rolling so we had to let go and just follow the motion. Half the time we would start a stroke and find ourselves on the top of a wave and spinning our arms uselessly in air and the other half we would turn to breathe and realize we were under water. There is something so exciting and fun about swimming in big water. A few minutes in I let out a loud "yee-HA" and Matt stopped to see if a seal was nibbling on my toe.

We swam 2km and felt that was enough in the chilly temperature as our hands and feet were numb by that point. We will need to step it up next week for sure and get a longer swim in. I want to try 3km before I encounter it race day! Sure, I've done it in the pool plenty of times but the open water is a different beast.